ICA Ambassador to Madagascar, Tom Cushman, reports that Madagascar is once again the site of new Corundum discoveries. Word has been out on a discovery of a new source for a very rich color pink sapphire since last December and now Cushman reports that a new Ruby source was found in the Andilamena mining district.$$ Andilamena has produced ruby since 2000 and is most recently famous for the “Ruby Star” material so often being lead glass filled. For the first two years the Andilamena rubies were mined from the riverbed and adjacent banks. In late 2003/early 2004 shaft mining reached the level of the primary deposit of the “ruby star.” The March find was the primary deposit of another type of ruby being found in Andilamena. This ruby is usually small, dark red, well-formed, hexagonal platelets. “This deposit contains much more gem quality material than the ‘ruby star’ and should be appearing in quantity in the marketplace right about now,” stated Cushman.

Another new corundum find about 100 km south of Mahajunga was recently reported, however, its quality and quantity were not appraised at the time of this report. ICA member Vincent Pardieu, Director of the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences Laboratory in Bangkok, is currently in the field in Madagascar visiting the new finds and studying the gem material found. He has plans to publish his findings when he returns from his tour of Madagascar and other mining areas in Africa.$$ Cushman reports that Ilakaka/Sakaraha is still producing in quantity but the industry has matured a great deal since the big rush a few years ago. Reports from the Service des Mines state large quantities of both pink and blue sapphire are being exported from the Ilakaka region.$$Speaking about the mining situation in Madagascar Cushman said, “There seems to be no end in sight for new corundum deposits and production.”